SCOUTING THE MOUNTAINEERSMount St. Mary's enters Saturday at 8-20 overall and 5-10 in the NEC, one game back of Bryant and LIU Brooklyn in the conference standings. The Mountaineers defeated Central Connecticut 79-66 Thursday and have won three of their last four to pull within a game of the last spot in the NEC tournament.

Vado Morse leads the Mount and all NEC freshmen at 14.6 points per game. Malik Jefferson is the conference's leading freshman rebounder at 6.1 per game. The Mountaineers are the second-youngest team in the country, per KenPom.

THE SERIESBryant is 8-11 against Mount St. Mary's in the Division I era and 8-13 all-time with a pair of Division II meetings in the 1980s.

The Bulldogs are looking for their third-straight win in the series thanks to a 66-59 victory in Emmitsburg Jan. 10. Junior SaBastian Townes (Chesapeake, Va.) and freshman Joe Kasperzyk (New Haven, Conn.) scored 21 points each in the victory.

LAST TIME OUT: BRYANT 67, WAGNER 65Junior Adam Grant (Franklin, Va.) scored 17 points to lead four Bulldogs in double figures as Bryant got a stop on the final possession to hold off Wagner Thursday and earn a regular-season series sweep of the Seahawks.

FROM HAMPTON ROADS TO RHODE ISLANDJunior duo SaBastian Townes and Adam Grant have led the Bulldog offense this year with both players averaging 15.5 points per game, ranking seventh and eighth in the NEC in scoring by virtue of Grant tallying 403 points to Townes' 402.

Townes and Grant, who have played organized basketball together since they were 11 years old, have combined for 15 20-point and two 30-point games this season.

CARDENAS PEAKING AT RIGHT TIMEJunior Juan Cardenas (Medellin, Colombia) has turned up the offense in the month of February, averaging 11.5 points per game on 62.5 percent from the field. Cardenas has added 7.2 rebounds per game this month.

KEEP IT DOWNBryant is 9-1 this season when the Bulldogs hold their opponent under 70 opponents. Bryant held two of its first nine foes under 70 before doing it eight times in the last 17 games.

BLOCK & GOLDJunior Juan Cardenas leads Bryant with 40 blocks on the year, good for third in the NEC. Cardenas ranks fifth in Bryant's Division I era in career blocks through just 25 games played. Cardenas passed Ben Altit for fifth on the Division I list vs. Sacred Heart.

TRIPLE PLAYBryant is the only team in the nation to have tripled its win total from a year ago. The Bulldogs have also tripled their NEC win total from last season.

UP NEXT: ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYNBryant travels to Brooklyn for the final week of the regular season, beginning the weekend Thursday at St. Francis Brooklyn. The game is currently slated for 7 p.m. on NEC Front Row but is eligible to be flexed to CBS Sports Network pending Saturday's results.